Free Republic

It's common knowledge that a lot of people in the world don’t have access to clean drinking water. In some parts of Africa, people, particularly children fall victim to bacteria in the water they drink; a lot of them die. For some, getting to a water source, even one that isn’t clean can mean walking for several miles, and then carrying it back. It’s for these people that industrial design students Ryan Lynch and Marcus Triest have designed and created what they call the Solar Bag, it’s a bag that holds water and hangs off the shoulders and lies on...

I knew this was going to happen, so ... I am reposting this in light of the following story blurb that just appeared on Drudge: From Drudge 10:12 PM 03-10-03 By Bill Gertz: Al Qaeda is seeking recruits in the Middle East for terrorist attacks on oil fields in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait in the event of U.S. military action against Iraq, U.S. intelligence officials say... MORE... The al Qaeda recruitment is targeting radical Islamists in Saudi Arabia and Yemen who are willing to conduct suicide attacks and other sabotage against the oil fields outside Iraq, the WASHINGTON TIMES will...

Thoughts have previously occurred to me, regarding similarities the Frank Herbert's "Dune" as relates to the Ozama Bin Laden phenomenon and the rise of Isamofascist fundamentalism, but they involve a specific aspect of the Herbert story, and thereby reflect some of the economic dangers to the West that may just now be appearing. Please forgive the strains this kind of speculation and comparison of actual events with a fictional tale put on credibility, and just bear with me for a moment. Also, please don't take my musings as any kind of endorsement or lionization of Bin Laden as some kind...